Could the Blue Angels and Fleet Week be on the chopping block?

In bleeding heart, do-gooder San Francisco, most fretting over the scheduled federal budget sequester has revolved around what the across-the-board cuts would mean for the poor.

Homeless advocates, for example, have warned that if Congress and President Obama don’t compromise by March 1, the city will lose more than $1 million in homeless assistance grants and $800,000 worth of housing vouchers for low-income AIDS patients.

But in emphasizing to reporters after last Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting that the city’s fairly rosy budget projections for next year would be dramatically worse if sequestration happens, Mayor Ed Lee highlighted something else.

No more Blue Angels. And perhaps, gasp, no more Fleet Week.

A budget casualty? (Michael Macor/The Chronicle)

The Navy late last month circulated an internal memo saying that sequestration would mean slashing all funds for the Blue Angels, the nation’s oldest aerobatic flying team, in the second half of this year.

That would mean grounding the fleet for 30 scheduled shows, including San Francisco’s – that October spectacle that delights and wows some and causes others to gripe about militaristic braggadocio or just the ear-drum bursting noise.

Christine Falvey, spokeswoman for the mayor, said Fleet Week’s Parade of Ships could also be in jeopardy. Behind the scenes, organizers are wondering whether Fleet Week could survive without those centerpieces.

Falvey said Fleet Week attracts 1 million spectators and its loss could have a major economic impact on San Francisco.

“The mayor is hoping the President and Congress can reach an agreement to avoid these devastating cuts,” she said.